ODL: NOUN has highest student enrollment in West Africa

The Chairman of Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof Peter Okebukola, has disclosed that the institution has an enrollment of about 600, 000 students, making it the highest in Open Distance Learning (ODL) in West Africa.

Prof Okebukola, who stated this on Tuesday while receiving the newly inaugurated members of visitation panel in NOUN headquarter in Abuja on their first interactive meeting with the members of the council of the institution, said Nigeria is leading in enrollment with South Africa following with about 400000 enrollment.

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He said efforts were ongoing to ensure that the enrollment figure gets to a million.

He, however, noted that though the institution was still struggling with few challenges, among which is the quality of their graduates, adding that efforts were ongoing to improve on that.

The panel, who have the mandate to assess the activities of the institution in the last 10 years, also have 60 days from the date of their inauguration to submit their report.

Speaking, the Chairman of the panel, Isa Bello Sali, said: “What we are here to do in the next few weeks is not strange but a continuation of a practice and a tradition that is perhaps centuries old.”

Sali said the visit was a good starting point to meet with the council and to hear the University’s story from the appropriate authority.

While seeking the council’s support and blessings, he said without their support the assignment could not succeed.

He said the panel’s terms of reference included enquiry into the level of implementation of the white paper on the
last visitation report, examine the quality of the leadership of the University and examining the financial management of the institution including statutory allocations and internally generated revenue over the recommended period and determine whether it was in compliance with the appropriate regulations.

Others are; to investigate the application of funds, particularly the special grants and loans meant for particular projects in order to determine the status of such projects and their relevance for further funding and to examine the adequacy of staff and staff development programmes of the University among others.